Restaurants across the US are currently struggling to find labor and are increasingly turning to technology and automation to solve their staffing problems.
More and more Americans are leaving their jobs in order to get better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Restaurants are hard hit by the labor shortage.
They have been closing their dining rooms and cutting their hours because they can't find enough staff and labor is getting more expensive. The owners of the restaurant say service is getting slower.
Many have been increasing wages and offering better benefits to attract staff.
This also includes robotic server.
American Robotech makes four types of robots that can perform a number of functions, including delivering food to tables, clearing dirty dishes, escorting diners to their seats, and even singing "happy birthday."
There are four different robots.
American technology.
The Texas-based company started sales in early 2021, just as businesses began to complain of understaffing, according to the CEO.
La Duni, a Latin American restaurant in Dallas, is renting three robots for fifteen dollars a day. The restaurant's owner told CNN that using the robots was a no-brainer to relieve his staff.
Restaurants were understaffed and that's the main reason for introducing the robots. Some restaurants used the robots to differentiate themselves from their rivals.
The robots cannot replace people, Chen said. He said that the robots were meant to take over repetitive tasks that staff perform hundreds of times a day. He said that they could do these tasks better than people.
The robots can't place food at the table. The kitchen staff can place up to 10 plates on the trays. Customers or wait staff can lift it off the table.
The same process is used for staff clearing tables.
Voice-recognition software is available for the robots.
American Robotech says its robots can work for up to 24 hours on a full charge.
Two main driving wheels and up to eight auxiliary wheels are included in the robot.
The robots have a system of cameras and LiDAR sensors which can be used all the time, according to Chen. He said that they're able to stop immediately if someone tries to stop them.
The restaurants told him that their revenues went up after they started using the robots.
The companies can either buy or rent the robot. The company's largest robot, HolaBot, costs $17,800 to buy, rising to $18,200 for the smallest robot, KettyBot.
Most of his clients operated medium to large restaurants of between 2,000 and 4,000 square foot, and usually only had one robot.
Do you have a story about the labor shortage? Please email this reporter at gdean@insider.com.
